Project management for field consultants: Microsoft Dynamics SL

The Field Consultant

As soon as Steve, the project manager, published the project, Jim, a field consultant, received an e-mail message notifying him he had been assigned new tasks. Looking at the timeline, he immediately scheduled his travel. A few months later, he's on location to complete the project.

Applications that Jim uses:

Steps that Jim completes:

Jim uses the task page of Microsoft Project Web Access to see all the tasks he is working on in different projects. From this screen he has a variety of capabilities. With approval, he can add a new task to a project or assign a task to someone else. He can see documents and issues associated with tasks, and can enter new documents or issues as well.

Figure 1.1 Microsoft Project Web Access task page

Jim also sees there's an issue associated with the City Power & Light project. Published issues allow him to stay informed about any problems with this important project. Issues tracking and document collaboration are enabled through Microsoft SharePoint Team Services, which is included for free with Microsoft Project Server 2003. SharePoint Team Services lets all project stakeholders collaborate on documents and issues, and provides a way for organizations to capture intellectual capital generated during a project for reuse in the future.

Jim's task-at-hand is to enter his hours by going to the Web Time Entry screen from the Microsoft Dynamics SL Desktop by clicking the link. This timesheet is generated using Microsoft Dynamics SL, so it's different than the default Microsoft Project timesheet. With this timesheet, reporting periods can be controlled, and a flexible, multiple level approval is enabled. Once Jim submits his hours, he can't change them. This allows the level of control required by the accounting department. Another important feature is time can be entered online or offline, ensuring project costs are captured as soon as they are incurred. This reduces A. Datum's unbilled costs and increases their project profitability.

After Jim has submitted his hours, he needs to submit expenses for his travel. So, he opens the expense entry page and proceeds to enter expenses for the City Power & Light project.

As you can see, with Microsoft Dynamics for project management, organizations can view different types of expenses associated with tasks in Microsoft Project, as well as enter and track them in a time-phased manner through the accounting system.

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